1 Corinthians 2:1-5
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
1 Timothy 4:12-16
Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.
Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.
Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.
Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.
Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.
Our Lord, we thank You. You have been with us until this very moment. Throughout these past days, You have shown us Your mercy and Your grace. We praise You and worship You.
Our Lord, we praise You. We thank You. You are the beginning, and You are also the end.
We entrust this last gathering into Your hands. We pray that You will bless Your own Word. Give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Speak to each of us.
Whatever remains to be spoken, we pray that You will fulfill it, that Your name may be glorified. Amen.
We thank the Lord for His presence with us until this very moment. This is the fifth conference on service.
We know that we live in order to worship Him and to serve Him. Therefore, service is the responsibility of each one of us. It is not only our responsibility, but it is also our glory.
How shall we serve our God? We serve Him by worship. Therefore, we must learn to be worshippers.
Not only on the Lord’s Day, when we gather together, but every day in our lives, we must worship Him, that His name may be glorified.
How can we serve our God? We need to be men and women of prayer. As we pray, His will will be fulfilled. As we pray, His kingdom will come.
Therefore, prayer is a way of service. We all need to be men and women of prayer, speaking with our God.
When we proclaim His Word, we are serving our God, because our God is a God who speaks. He wants to speak to His own people, but He needs those who will be instruments for His speaking.
If we receive mercy, we can be ministers of His Word. We can proclaim His Word. This can be a service to our Lord.
Strictly speaking, there are two kinds of ministry of the Word. In Ephesians 4:11, God gave different kinds of people to the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers.
These groups of people are given to the church by God in order to equip the saints. They are ministers of God’s Word.
However, aside from those specifically called to minister God’s Word, there is also a ministry in which every believer may participate.
1 Corinthians 14:1-3 speaks of prophetic ministry:
Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.
This is something each one of us can do. It is also a way of ministering God’s Word.
God may call a specific group of people to a particular ministry of the Word. The apostles said, “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). This particular ministry is not for everybody.
But we should not think that, because we are not specifically called to be ministers of the Word, we have no ministry of God’s Word. All of us can exhort. All of us can give words of comfort and encouragement.
In the church, every one of us has something to do with God’s Word. By His mercy, we can all share God’s Word.
Even though we are sharing concerning the matter of ministering God’s Word, do not say that it is unrelated to you. In principle, it has to do with each one of us.
Do not listen to this message only for somebody else. This is the Word that God wants you to hear.
If we are faithful in small things, God will entrust us with greater things. At the beginning, perhaps you will only speak a few words of encouragement in the local assembly. But because you are faithful, God may call you to be a minister of His Word.
May the Lord do such a work in each of our lives.
We want to share something very practical: how are we to minister God’s Word? What must we be in order that God’s Word can be delivered through us?
In the matter of ministering God’s Word, technique is secondary. The person is primary.
Paul told Timothy to pay attention to himself and to his teaching. He also said, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness.” This shows us that the person who ministers is most important.
We want to emphasize this again: if one wants to be a minister of God’s Word, technique is secondary. The man is most important.
Unfortunately, today, when people are trained to minister God’s Word, much of the emphasis is placed on method: how to search the Scriptures, how to find a suitable subject in the Bible, and how to deliver a message.
People may think that, once they have technique, they can deliver God’s Word. But in spiritual ministry, that is not the case.
The spiritual man is most important. God must do a very thorough work in that person’s life until that person is transformed, until Christ is fully formed in him. Christ’s character must become that person’s character.
Only then is he fit to deliver God’s Word.
The person is most important. Often we say, “I want to preach God’s Word,” and then we ask, “How can I receive God’s Word? What shall I preach? What should I say? How should I deliver the message?”
I remember when I was young and began ministering God’s Word to God’s people. There was a fear within me. I thought, “One day, if I say everything that I have within me, then one day I will have nothing more to say. What will happen to me?”
Many young brothers and sisters may have this problem when they begin to learn to minister. We must know how to receive words from God.
Today we are preaching God’s Word. If we do not have something from God, what can we deliver to others? We must not preach by our own words.
The first thing is that we must learn to receive words from God.
If we want to receive words from God, we must learn to wait before Him. Many times we have no words because we have not come and waited before Him.
If we truly wait before Him, He is faithful. If He wants you to speak for Him, He will give His Word to you.
In Psalm 123, it says:
As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
until He shall be gracious to us.
We need to learn to come before the Lord and wait before Him for His Word to come to us. As you pray, wait before Him. As you read His Word, wait before Him. When His Word comes to you, then you have His Word.
In the Old Testament, we often find this expression: “The word of the Lord came unto me.” It is not a matter of grasping God’s Word for yourself.
Sometimes we feel that we need to preach, so we search through the Bible until we find a passage that seems suitable. Then we say, “This sounds good. I can use it.”
But in that case, you are looking for something to use. You are using God’s Word, rather than allowing God’s Word to use you.
Therefore, we need to learn to wait before Him. If the Word of the Lord does not come, we should not speak carelessly.
Jeremiah was called to be a prophet. When the Word of the Lord came upon him, he said that he could not speak because he was like a child. But the Lord said, “I have put My words in your mouth.”
In Jeremiah’s life, God’s Word came upon him, and then he spoke. If the Word of the Lord did not come, he kept silent.
Jeremiah lived shortly before the captivity of Israel, when the condition of the Jewish people was in decline. The Lord said that if they would not repent, the whole nation would perish.
Jeremiah received God’s Word and preached it to his people. He was a weeping prophet. Yet the people were not willing to listen to his words.
At the same time, there were other prophets who also called themselves prophets. But their prophecies were according to the wishes of the people. They said, “Peace, peace. We have no problem.”
Jeremiah, however, said, “We are in deep trouble. Evil is coming upon us, and this nation will perish. You must repent.”
Jeremiah had a very difficult time because what he preached was so different from what the other prophets preached. No one would receive his words, while the other prophets were welcomed by the people.
Jeremiah went to the Lord. Let us turn to Jeremiah 14:13-14:
But, “Ah, Lord God!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”
Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.”
If the Lord’s Word does not come upon us, yet we want to speak in His name, we may still preach and prophesy. But God may say, “I have not sent you. I have not commanded you. I have not spoken to you.” It is all our own vision.
We must be very careful. We must learn to wait before Him.
The flesh cannot wait, because the flesh is very active. But if we desire to preach God’s Word, we must learn to wait before Him until His Word comes upon us.
The Word may come in many ways, and it may come differently to different people. Sometimes a person is quietly reading the Word, and God uses a portion of Scripture to enlighten him.
Sometimes a person is praying, and God gives him a thought that does not come from himself but is given by the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes, while you are speaking with someone, that person may say a word that touches your heart. The Word comes to you in different ways.
The question is whether your heart is waiting before the Lord, like a servant looking to the hand of his master. If you are looking to the Lord in this way, He will give His Word to you.
There is another side. As we serve the Lord in a local situation, or as we go to a distant place to preach God’s Word, we may not know the condition of the people there. Therefore, we must seek the Lord concerning what He would have us speak.
When we are ministering among our brothers and sisters, we must study them before the Lord.
In the Old Testament, the high priest wore the breastplate of judgment. On every precious stone was the name of one of the tribes of Israel. Behind the breastplate was a pocket containing the Urim and Thummim.
Whenever the high priest went before the Lord to inquire for the nation, he had this breastplate before him. Through the Urim and Thummim, God revealed His will to His people.
We do not know exactly how the Urim and Thummim worked, but we know that this was a way through which God revealed His will.
The person who ministers God’s will to God’s people must have God’s people upon his breastplate. We must bring our brothers and sisters before the Lord and study them before Him.
As we study them before the Lord, the Holy Spirit enlightens us. Then we know what is suitable and appropriate for God’s people in their particular condition.
God’s Word may come in two ways. One is objective: God’s Word comes directly upon you, and you deliver it to His people without particular concern for their immediate condition.
But on the other hand, it may be subjective. As you study the condition of God’s people, the Word comes to you. The Word is then especially suitable to their need.
This is what we often find in the prophets. They brought God’s people before God; they were concerned for God’s people, and their hearts were with God’s people. Then God’s Word came with precision, and the words exactly suited the condition of the people.
Sometimes God speaks something that seems not to be directly related to the present condition, because He wants to reveal His heart. Yet often God allows us to see the condition of His people so that we can give them suitable food at the proper time.
First, we must learn to wait before Him and receive words from Him. The Word reveals God’s desire toward His people.
After we have received words from God and know what is in God’s heart, what is the next step? We must have a burden.
A burden comes from God’s Word. When the Word of the Lord comes upon us, we receive that Word, meditate before the Lord, and pray before Him. Then the burden becomes clearer and clearer, and stronger and stronger.
In the Old Testament there is a Hebrew word, massa. It has two uses. In the first five books of Moses, it is translated as a load or burden, something carried.
For example, the Levites carried the burden of the tabernacle. Moses also said that he could not bear all the people alone. This is the thought of carrying a burden.
In the books of the prophets, the same word is translated as an oracle, a revelation, or a vision.
Let us turn to Isaiah 13:1:
The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
And Malachi 1:1 says:
The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
When God reveals His Word to you, you receive a burden from God Himself. This Word comes to you like a load upon you, and the burden becomes stronger and stronger.
Only the Word can release this burden. If you have this Word and yet cannot speak it, it is as though the burden is unbearable. When the Word is released, the burden is released.
If we want to preach God’s Word, we must receive a burden from God. If we speak God’s Word without a burden within, our speaking will be superficial. There will be no power in our words.
But when we speak the Word from a burden within, our words will have weight, and our words will be powerful.
This matter of a burden in our hearts is most important. Sometimes we preach God’s Word without a real burden, and it becomes nothing more than merely filling a message.
Let us look at Ezekiel 2:8-10 and Ezekiel 3:1-3:
Now you, son of man, hear what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.
Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it.
When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe.
Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”
So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll.
He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.
God’s Word is not merely something to be read or studied outwardly. It is something that must be eaten into us.
When you have eaten God’s Word, it is sweet in your mouth. Yet in your inward parts, it may become bitter, because you have received a burden and become sympathetic with God. Your life becomes involved with that Word.
If the Word has nothing to do with your life, it tells us that you have no real word.
This is true in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In Revelation 10:8-11, John was told to take the little book and eat it:
And the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.”
So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”
I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”
Receiving God’s Word is like eating it. Once you receive the Word, it becomes a burden within you, and through that burden the Word is released.
Jeremiah was also this way. In Jeremiah 20, he said that he would not speak again in the Lord’s name. Yet when he tried to remain silent, the Word burned within him, and he could not help but speak.
If we are to preach God’s Word, we must receive from Him. When we receive words from God, the Word comes to us as a burden.
We must ask the Lord to give us proper utterance. The Word we receive from God is revelation, but if we are to release that Word, we need utterance.
Paul was highly educated, but he said that when he came to the Corinthians, he did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom. He determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Paul did not rely on natural eloquence. He spoke by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that the faith of the Corinthians would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
The Corinthians loved wisdom because they considered themselves wise. But Paul would not rely on human wisdom or human eloquence to convince them.
When we preach God’s Word, it is a matter of life and death. We are preaching the life of Christ. We cannot preach Christ merely with natural eloquence.
This does not mean that God’s Word should not have proper expression. We need proper utterance in order to release and share what God has given us.
Paul asked the saints to pray for him that utterance would be given to him in opening his mouth to proclaim the mystery of Christ. This is beyond what we can do naturally.
We must go before the Lord for utterance, so that we can explain the revelation we have received.
In Ephesians 1:17-18, Paul prayed:
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.
We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation. The Spirit reveals God’s will in our inner spirit.
But the eyes of our heart must also be enlightened. The mind must come to understanding. In our spirit, we may receive revelation and see something, but if we do not understand with our minds, we cannot interpret what we have received or share it with others.
Sometimes we receive revelation and are very joyful, but we are unable to share it. We see it inwardly, but others cannot see it because we have not received the proper utterance.
It is like taking a photograph. The image is already on the film, but unless the film is developed, the picture cannot be seen. In the same way, the Spirit enlightens our spirit, but our mind must be enlightened so that the revelation can be developed and expressed.
Therefore, we must pray, “Lord, give us utterance.”
Among God’s people, there are two extremes. One extreme says that when you preach, you do not need preparation; you only need inspiration. They consider preparation to be human effort.
Some preachers never prepare and rely entirely on what they call inspiration. I believe in inspiration, but sometimes what is called inspiration is only one’s own feeling.
A person may have an experience or a feeling, and then speak according to that feeling. But this is not necessarily inspiration.
The other extreme does not believe in inspiration; it believes only in perspiration. Such people labor greatly to prepare a message, shutting themselves away and struggling to construct it.
Both extremes are inadequate. To preach and minister properly, we need inspiration, but we also need preparation.
God may give us one word. We understand that word, but others may not understand it. Therefore, we need many words to explain the one word that we have received from the Lord.
We must meditate, pray, search the Scriptures, and consider whether there are examples, illustrations, and connections that can help to develop the Word clearly.
When we develop the Word, people should be able to follow our thought. Some preachers speak one thing and then immediately speak another thing, and nobody knows what they are talking about.
Therefore, we need to put in effort. We need to meditate and put God’s Word in an orderly way. Yet we also need inspiration.
We need God’s Word, a burden, and utterance from the Lord. Then we can deliver that Word.
Do not rely merely upon your memory. Do not simply preach what is in your mind or read from your notes. That is not the way.
I am not saying that you should not use notes. Let me tell you my secret. When I was young, when I preached, I never used notes. God was merciful to me because I could remember what I had received, and I was able to meditate until the Word grew within me.
But now that is not the case. If I do not write something down, I may lose it. When the Lord gives me something, I have to write it down.
Every time I share, I have what I have written down with me. Sometimes I open it because there are words that I do not remember well.
Memory is important, but we must ask the Lord to refresh the Word so that what is in our mind may be fresh, living, and alive.
The Word may have come to us yesterday, but when we stand to speak today, the Word may be in our mind without being as alive as it was yesterday. Therefore, we must ask the Lord to quicken the Word stored in our mind.
Then, when we deliver the Word, it is still alive, and the burden is still there.
Some people have truly received something from the Lord and have a real burden. They have waited before the Lord, and He has given them a Word. But when they stand to speak, they rely only on memory, and the Word becomes stale.
We need to ask the Lord to quicken and enliven the Word He has given us, and to bring us into proper utterance.
As we deliver God’s Word, we need His power. We need to speak under the anointing.
In the Old Testament, the priests were anointed. It is the same with us today.
After the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, there were many witnesses of His resurrection. They had seen Him and heard Him, and it might seem that they were qualified to go to the ends of the earth to testify.
But the Lord told them to wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high. Only then were they to go from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
We may have God’s Word, and that Word may be real. But without the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word cannot be properly delivered.
Paul said that he did not come with eloquence or superior words. It was by the Spirit and by the power of the Holy Spirit that he spoke.
As we preach God’s Word, we must look to the Holy Spirit.
Christ has ascended and has been made both Lord and Christ. The Holy Spirit has come upon the Body. The anointing comes down upon the whole Body.
When the Old Testament priest was anointed, it was not merely a few drops of oil upon his head. The oil was poured upon him and flowed down upon his whole person.
In the same way, the entire Body is under the anointing. God has made Christ Lord and Christ, and the Holy Spirit is on the earth anointing the Body.
If we submit ourselves under His headship, this anointing is our portion and inheritance. Since the anointing comes down upon the whole Body, it comes to every member.
Christ means “the Anointed One.” We are Christians; therefore, we are those under the anointing. We must preach the Word under the anointing.
Every time we preach God’s Word, we must commit ourselves under His headship and rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit. Then God’s Word will be released with power.
Lastly, we must pray with the Word that we are releasing. Often we preach God’s Word, but there is no prayer behind it. Because of this, the Word may suffer much loss.
Not only must we seek His Word; we need to pray. When we deliver the Word, we need to pray. After we have delivered the Word, we also need to pray, that the Word may bear fruit.
Sometimes we pray before we speak, but after delivering the Word, we fail to pray. We may think that our responsibility is finished, but our responsibility never comes to an end.
We must bring the Word we preach back to the Lord in prayer. We must pray that God will confirm His Word and give Him glory.
When we preach God’s Word, we are engaged in spiritual warfare. The purpose is to open the eyes of people, to deliver them from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified.
The adversary will not allow this to happen without conflict. Therefore, our weapon is prayer. We need to pray at all times so that God’s will may be done and His kingdom may come.
We need much, much prayer. Where there is much prayer, even if the Word delivered seems weak, God can use it. But if a message appears strong and there is no prayer behind it, much of that word may be taken away by the enemy.
Not only those who preach need to pray; all who listen need to pray. Otherwise, the evil one will snatch away the Word.
May we learn to be ministers of God’s Word. May God raise up many brothers and sisters in His church who are able to deliver His Word.
O God, we praise You. It is Your mercy that has brought us through this week. For all Your grace and mercy, we glorify You. It is all Your doing.
We look to You. In these last days, raise up among Your own children those who watch and pray.
We also pray that You will raise up many who can be ministers of Your own Word, that Your church may be built up.